1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for portioning and encasing whole meat products which have not been ground or emulsified. More specifically, this invention relates to such an apparatus wherein the portioning and the casing closure steps are machine performed.
2. Statement of the Prior Art
In the packaging of whole muscle meat products, the products are transferred from a feed means, such as a hopper, to a packaging station by way of, for example, meat pumps. At the packaging station, the meat product is encased in a suitable casing, and it is important that the correct weight of the product be included in each package. Having an overweight situation is costly to the packaging company, and having an underweight situation is unfair to the ultimate purchaser.
Presently, a great part of the portioning and casing process is manually performed. This is costly, slow and inefficient. In addition, accuracy is poor, so that the packages do not always contain the correct weight.
In addition, the product is normally fed to the casing via a horn. With present systems, a portioned product is not separated from its previous or following portion until it is in the casing. This makes it very difficult to close the casing, as unseparated product gets in the way.